Club Deportivo Universidad Católica
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| Full name | Club Deportivo Universidad Católica | |||
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| Nickname(s) | UC Cato La Católica (The Catholic) Los Cruzados (The Crusaders) Caballeros cruzados (Knights Crusaders) | |||
| Founded | 21 April 1937 | |||
| Ground | San Carlos de Apoquindo Santiago | |||
| Capacity | 14,118[1] | |||
| Chairman | Juan Tagle | |||
| Manager | Gustavo Poyet | |||
| League | Campeonato Nacional | |||
| 2020 | 1st | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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Club Deportivo Universidad Católica is a professional football club based in Santiago, Chile, which plays in the Primera División, the top flight of Chilean football.
Universidad Católica is one of the most successful and popular Chilean football clubs and considered one of Chile's "Big Three".
Its traditional rival is Universidad de Chile. They contest the Clásico Universitario. Colo-Colo is the other big rival of the club.
Its official fight song is the Hymn of the Sports Club of the Catholic University, based on the song Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!.
Overview[]
While the club was born as one of the many sport branches of the Universidad Católica de Chile, officially founded in 1937, it began, strictly speaking, around 1910, when students of the University would reunite to play football matches, frequently facing historical rival Universidad de Chile. In time, the idea of creating a professional club emerged, and on 21 April 1937, the club officially and legally began. It made its professional debut, in the second division, against the Universidad de Chile. Rivalry, both in sports and in academic issues, made these matches between the universities become more and more important, eventually reaching the national status of "Universities' Derby". The rivalry maintains itself until today, with each match between these teams being considered a must-see for every football fan in the country.[citation needed]
The Universidad Católica has attained fame as a favorite of the higher classes, because of many factors, which range from the location of the club's stadium, San Carlos de Apoquindo (in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of the capital) and Headquarters, although there are "UC" fans all around the country, including popular regions or towns. For this reason, is planned to build a new stadium in a more popular place of Santiago. Due to the neighborhood's strong influence (wealthy families), the club has been unable to be approved for projects to enlarge the stadium and thus draw larger crowds. Only until in recent years the club was allowed by the commune of Las Condes, to host their clasicos matches against Universidad de Chile and Colo-Colo in their own stadium. Although just a limited number of its rivals' supporters are allowed to be present at these matches due to security reasons inside the stadium and around its high-end neighborhood.
The club has reached notoriety, both in a national and South American level, as the owner of one of the best infrastructures and training centers in the continent. As such, it is a good source of young talents, which occasionally rise to stardom in the club. Its most recent youth academy produced player known worldwide is Gary Medel, currently playing for Italian side Bologna FC, among other clubs such as Boca Juniors, Sevilla and Internazionale, as well as playing a big role in Chile's 2010 and 2014 World Cup squads.
"La Cato" is the 3rd team that has won the most tournaments at a national level. The club has won 15 national tournaments and one international cup: Inter-American cup. Also, in 1993, Universidad Católica was the runner-up in the most important international tournament in South America: the Copa Libertadores de América, losing in the finals against the biggest club in Brazil and defending Libertadores' Champion São Paulo They lost to what was considered[by whom?] the best team of the decade, a team that defeated Johan Cruyff's Barcelona Dream Team in 1992 and the Mighty Milan of Fabio Capelo em 1993. Between the two legs after a heavy defeat away la Catolica won the second leg but lost the title on aggregate. In 1997 the club celebrated its 60th anniversary with a friendly tournament where they beat Ajax Amsterdam 3–2 in the Copa 60º Aniversario de Universidad Católica.[2]
In recent years,[when?] the club has been reemerged in international competition, advancing to the 2005 Copa Sudamericana semifinal before being knocked out by the powerful Boca Juniors from Argentina, who would go on to win the tournament. In 2006 the team made a good presentation in the Copa Libertadores, but was eliminated at the last minute by Tigres UANL of Mexico and failed to advance beyond the group stage. Universidad Católica did not qualify for the 2007 Copa Libertadores.
Católica again played Copa Libertadores in 2008 with no luck, being eliminated in the group stage by goal difference by River Plate and América. In 2010, their performance was no better, finishing third in group stage behind Universidad de Chile and Flamengo.
In the 2011 edition, Católica finished first on the round robin, and then advanced to the quarter-finals, knocking out Grêmio of Brazil on the best 16 round, and falling to Peñarol of Uruguay 2–0 in Montevideo and winning their home match 2–1, which was not enough to advance.
In 2012 the club, under coach and former player Mario Lepe, finished last on the group stage, winning only 1 home game and losing on their away games in Colombia and Bolivia.
The club has finally championed in the last three Chilean tournaments, which makes them one of the four clubs that became "Tricampeones" in the contra, after U. De Chile, Colo Colo and Magallanes.
Club information[]
- Seasons in Primera División: 79 (1939–1955, 1957–1973, 1976–)
- Seasons in Segunda División: 3 (1956, 1974–1975)
- Best Finish in Primera División: Champions
- Worst position in Primera División: 18th
- Best Finish in Copa Chile season: Champions
- Best IFFHS position: 9th
- Record Primera División victory: 10–1 v. Palestino (1994)
- Record Copa Chile victory: 10–0 v. Selección San Pedro de Atacama (2010)
- Record Primera División defeat: 2–9 Audax Italiano (1945)
- Highest home attendance: 77,890 v. Universidad de Chile (11 January 1967) (at Estadio Nacional)
- Most games won in one league season: 27 (1999)
- Most games won in short tournaments: 18 (Clausura 2005)
- Most goals scored in one league season: 102 (1999)
- Most goals scored in short tournaments: 56 (Apertura 2002)
- Most goals scored in Primera División: Raimundo Infante (103 goals)
- Most goals scored overall: Rodrigo Barrera (118 goals)
- Most matches played overall:Mario Lepe (639 matches)
- Least beaten goalkeeper: José María Buljubasich 1352 minutes (4th on IFFHS ranking)
- Most matches played for Copa Libertadores de América: Mario Lepe (76 matches)
Honours[]
Trophy International Tournament of Pascua 1950 
Trophy Ciudad de Palma 1984 
UC Cup U-17
Domestic[]
Primera División: 15
Cups[]
- Copa Chile: 4
Continental[]
- Runners-up (1): 1993
- Winners (1): 1993
Unofficial international tournaments[]
- International Tournament of Pascua: 1
- Winners (1): 1950
Players[]
The Chilean Football Federation rules allow a maximum of seven foreign players per team, but only five can be on the pitch at any one time. Currently, Católica has six foreign players.
Current squad[]
Current squad of Club Deportivo Universidad Católica as of 28 March 2021
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Sources: Universidad Católica official website
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Youth Academy[]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan[]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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2021 Winter transfers[]
In[]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out[]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Current coaching staff[]
| Position | Name |
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| Manager |  Gustavo Poyet
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| Assistant Manager | Diego Poyet
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| Academy team Manager |  Andrés Romero
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| Fitness coach |  Panagiotis Voulgaris
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| Goalkeeping coach | 
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| Director of Football |  José María Buljubasich
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Individual honours[]
First Division top scorers[]
- Víctor Mancilla: 17 goals (1943)
- Osvaldo "Arica" Hurtado: 21 goals (1987)
Alberto Acosta: 33 goals (1994)- David Bisconti: 15 goals (Apertura 1997)
- Milovan Mirošević: 19 goals (2010)
- Nicolás Castillo: 11 goals (Clausura 2016), 13 goals (Apertura 2016)
- Fernando Zampedri: 20 goals (2020)
International cups top scorers[]
- Juan Carlos Almada: 9 (Libertadores 1993)
- Alberto Acosta: 11 (Libertadores 1997)
- Jorge Quinteros: 5 (Libertadores 2006)
- Michael Ríos: 5 (Sudamericana 2012)
America's Ideal Team[]
- Patricio Toledo (1991)
José Guillermo del Solar (1991)- Gary Medel (2009)
Former players[]
Notable coaches[]
- (1937)[3]
Máximo Garay (1938)
Antonio De Mare (1944–46)- Alberto Buccicardi (1949)
William Burnikell (1954)
(1956–57)- (1957)
- José Manuel Moreno (1957)
- Alberto Buccicardi (1958–59)
- (1960–61)
- Fernando Riera (1963–65)
- Luis Vidal (1966)
- (1967)
- Fernando Riera (1968)
- Néstor Isella (1973)
- (1975)
- (1976–77)
- (1977)
- Orlando Aravena (1978)
- Néstor Isella (1978–79)
- Andrés Prieto (1980)
- Pedro Morales (1981)
- Luis Santibáñez (1981–82)
- Ignacio Prieto (1983–89)
- Fernando Carvallo (1990–91)
- Vicente Cantatore (1991–92)
- Ignacio Prieto (1992–93)
- Manuel Pellegrini (1 July 1994 – 30 June 1996)
- Fernando Carvallo (1996–99)
Wim Rijsbergen (1 July 1999 – 30 June 2001)- Juvenal Olmos (2001–02)
- Óscar Meneses (2003)
- Oscar Garré (2004)
- Jorge Pellicer (1 April 2004 – 31 Dec 2006)x
- José Guillermo del Solar (17 Dec 2006 – 25 July 2007)
- Fernando Carvallo (1 July 2007 – 30 Oct 2008)
- Mario Lepe (2 Oct 2008 – 2 Jan 2009)
- Marco Antonio Figueroa (11 Dec 2008 – 8 July 2010)
Juan Antonio Pizzi (8 July 2010 – 30 June 2011)- Mario Lepe (27 June 2011 – 19 April 2012)
- Andrés Romero (20 April 2012 – 31 May 2012)
Martín Lasarte (1 June 2012 – 12 Dec 2013)- Rodrigo Astudillo (2014)
- Julio César Falcioni (2014)
- Patricio Ormazábal (interim) (2014)
- Mario Salas (2015–17)
- Beñat San José (2018)
- Gustavo Quinteros (2019)
- Ariel Holan (2020)
Other sports[]
Trophy Bernardo Salamovich, Basket
Riding
Athletics
Athletics
Field hockey U-12, U-14 and U-16 2015
Metropolitan Youth Championship, Athletics
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Chilean Clubs - Friendly Matches 1991-2001". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- ^ Fundación Club Deportivo Universidad Católica de Chile (1993), pp.37–38
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Club Deportivo Universidad Católica. |
- (in Spanish) Official site
- CDUCatolica.com
- Los Cruzados Archived 26 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- Ceatolei
| show Copa Interamericana winners |
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- Club Deportivo Universidad Católica
- Football clubs in Chile
- Association football clubs established in 1937
- Sport in Santiago
- Multi-sport clubs in Chile
- University and college association football clubs
- 1937 establishments in Chile